We are in the middle of the holiday season. People are thinking about what gifts to get friends and family. What about the beer-making, master mixologist, wine-drinking people on your list; what do you get them? The challenge is finding a gift they will like.? I hope this column helps — my third annual beverage holiday shopping guide.

For the beer person, one trend in the industry is growlers. A growler is a container you can take to a beer store or a brew pub and have it filled with beer for you to take home. Growlers are usually made out of glass. The challenge is that glass growlers are breakable and do not keep the beer cold, unless you keep it on ice or refrigerated. To solve these problems, you could get an insulated, stainless steel beer growler as a gift. They keep beer cold for several hours at room temperature and are more durable. Insulated beer growers are around $50.

If you have someone who makes his or her own beer, why not get a small oak barrel to age beer? If you have a geeky home brewery, you could get the BeerBug. The Wi-Fi-enabled device sends real time information on the fermenting beer.

If you want something simpler, why not get beer jelly, beer soap or a periodic table of beer styles? You could also go to the local beer store and build a mixed case of beer. You could create your own, such as all beer from New York state or beers from Belgium.

If they like cider, Cellar d'Or has one of the best selections of cider for sale in the country. The business is in Ithaca, but it ships. There are also some great cider producers here in the Hudson Valley.

For wine lovers, wine totes are always handy. If they like to host wine-tasting parties, why not get them black wine glasses? The black glasses make it harder for guests to know what they are drinking. Black glasses can add fun and excitement to a wine party. Another fun game is Wine-Opoly Monopoly board game; black glasses, Wine-Opoly -- that can be a fun night!

If you want to get someone a bottle of wine, try the 2011 vintage ports. Some say the 2011 vintage ports are one of the best vintages in the last 20 years. The fortified wine could be aged for 10 plus years — 2013 also was a great year for rieslings from New York state.

For the master mixologists on your list, a bottle of alcohol spirit from one of the many producers in the Hudson Valley is always a great gift. You could also get them a cocktail bar towel or spherical ice-cube trays. Cocktail recipe coasters are a great stocking stuffer. Japanese mixing glasses not only look good, but are very functional. Japanese mixing glasses are utilized for cocktails such as manhattans or martinis, in which you stir the drink. If you are going to get a stylish mixing glass, then get a bar-mixing spoon to match.

Located in the Hudson Valley, Dutch's Spirits has a do-it-yourself home cocktail bitters kit. It also makes a DIY tonic water kit. There is also a DIY gin kit in which the company supplies the botanicals and you add your favorite vodka. If that is too much work, Jack Rudy Cocktail Co. makes tonic water concentrate, as well as a small batch grenadine and elderberry tonic.

In the bar world, mezcal has become a popular alcohol spirit. It has some similarities to tequila, but it tends to have a little smokiness to it. Since it is not as well-known as tequila, most people do not have it as part of their home bar. Why not get them a bottle of Del Maguey Mezcal? The company sells some of the world's best mezcals. You could gift a bottle of mezcal and also give them copita sipping cups, used to drink mezcal.

For an easy gift, why not a cocktail book? Death & Co., one of the top cocktail bars in the country, released a great cocktail book. "Beachbum Berry's Potions of the Caribbean," written by Jeff Berry, is another great book to gift. The book is about classic tiki drinks; it also has colorful stories about on the history of tiki drinks.

For the soda drinker, Drink More Good, in Beacon, has a line of soda bases that contain all-natural ingredients. A soda siphon would be a perfect matching gift. For the espresso drinker, you could get him or her a Handpresso. The device makes espresso without power. You add your coffee, hot water and pump it to build up pressure; out comes your hot espresso. If you have hot water, then you can make an espresso no matter where you are. The AeroPress is a similar device. It is a handheld coffee maker that makes individual cups of coffee. It is also portable.

No matter what you get, I hope you have a safe and happy holiday season. See you in 2015.

Chef's Corner appears Wednesdays. Douglass Miller is an associate professor in hospitality and service management at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park. Miller serves as maitre d'instructor in the Bocuse Restaurant.